This invention relates to gaming machine cabinets and, more particularly, to an gaming machine cabinet having a combination bill entry/ticket dispensing structure for both receiving and dispensing currency and/or various currency representative media.
Traditional gaming machines include one input port for receiving currency or other credit-adding media, and another, separate, output port for dispensing winnings in some form. This is often confusing for a player, who may incorrectly attempt to insert currency into the output port, and/or conversely try to locate cashed-out winnings from the input port, which will be empty. Recently, some gaming machines have featured a single port for both the reception of and the dispensing of currency or the like. This not only avoids player confusion, but also frees up extra space on the face of the cabinet for other components or uses. One example may be found in co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 9,711,002, “Upright Gaming Machine Having a Dual Chute,” incorporated by reference in its entirety. However, such an arrangement typically requires the internal stacking of bulky components, such as a bill acceptor and a printer, so that they may be coupled to the same port. Some gaming machine cabinets may not have sufficient internal vertical space to allow such stacking of these components. A bill entry/ticket dispensing structure that offers the ease of use and space-saving features of a single location for acceptance of bills and the dispensing of tickets, while also eliminating the need to stack internal components, thus minimizing the internal cabinet depth requirement, would be a stark improvement in the field of gaming.